Paul McGinley believes preparations for this year's Dubai Duty Free Irish Open are shaping up perfectly as he prepares to host the 2019 edition of our national tournament.
A 'Festival of Golf' awaits fans when they head to Lahinch Golf Club in Co. Clare in July with, amongst other things, parts of the town to be fully pedestrianised during the event.
McGinley, a former Ryder Cup winning captain was the special guest for this week's edition of Golf Weekly, and he updated Joe on preparations, saying: "All of these things come with a lot of work and a lot of input from various people. The County Council have been terrific, the Gardai have been terrific and obviously the golf club have been a huge help.
"The European Tour, we had a big strategy meeting this morning about where we're at and we're kind of ahead where we thought we'd be and we're real excited about it.
"It's got its own momentum now and things have been put in place and now it's just a question of letting that momentum build in the right direction," he added.
McGinley has fond memories of the course itself, having won the South of Ireland Championship there in 1991: "It was great golf. I remember shooting 65 to win - one up. I was one-up playing the last. He (Phil Johns) was a big hitter - a little small guy, about my size but powerful. I remember he was a brilliant ball striker and it was a really good quality final.
"It was a bit of a bounce-back because I played in the North about three weeks previously and lost...so I figured I needed to win one of, what we call, the majors: north, south, east or west Irish cups in order to make the Walker Cup team that year which was going to be in Portmarnock and I did it that way by playing well in the final and beating Philip Johns."
Padraig Harrington and Graeme McDowell are the local favourites who have committed to playing this year's Irish Open while Ryder Cup hero Ian Poulter is the most recent high profile name to sign up for the event.
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